Bewitched Season 5? (1 Viewer)

[JohnMor]

Jeff, the transfers on disc 2 are less than stellar. Watchable, but not up to the previous releases. They definitely vary from episode to episode. But not quite as bad as my imagination feared before-hand. Overall, they're okay. Will know about discs 3 & 4 tonight.

 

[Garysb]

Are the shows in production order or broadcast order? Due to Dick York leaving the show they saved some of the shows he was on to run them later in the season.
Its a shame there is no special feature about his leaving the show. This was a very big deal at the time and was something people remembered and talked about. Unlike the movie where they say they changed actors and nobody noticed, it actually was noticed big time.

 

[JohnMor]

Gary, like the previous releases, this one is also in broadcast order. And I couldn't agree more about the need for a featurette (or something... even a text extra) about York's departure.:frowning:

It's funny, I distinctly remember being 5 and a half and sitting down to watch the first episode of the new season and seeing Dick Sargent hitting golf balls in the back yard and asking my parents why Darrin was different. They said this was the "new" one and it'll be him from now on. I'm sure I adjusted far more easily than adult fans did, actually. York was a hard act to follow, and I give Sargent props for being game enough to do it, but no one will ever approach what DY did in that role in my book.

I was thinking as I watched the 5th season eps how much physical business they gave him that year, knowing his back was bad. They really didn't give him an easy time of it.

 

[MatthewA]

They went from pretty darn good with the transfers to just okay. I think I need to limit my comments on Sony's practices to one per day for my health.

Is the transfer Cousin Serena Strikes Back Part 1 really as bad as they say?

How is the actual quality of the Japanese discs? I may save up for them on seasons 5-8.

 

[JohnMor]

The transfer on CSSA Pt 1 is very odd. It looks to me like it might be mastered from an old video source. The color leans to red and also blooms a lot, and the clarity is just a tad off. The clarity's not too bad, though, except on the transitions and split screen effects shot with Sam and Serena. They are really bad. I was expecting it to be unwatchable, and I was surprised that it wasn't as bad as I'd feared (but it's bad.) I found by reducing the color on my set, and changing the Hue setting, it became more watchable (except for the effects shots: nothing will help those.)

It's one of my favorite episodes because I really love Nancy Kovack, especially in that role. And I certainly didn't turn it off bacause of the quality. But it was a real disappointment knowing what we've gotten up till now.

I have no info on the Japanese discs. Sorry.

 

[Larry.P]

Finally people are agreeing with me about the transfers! I thought I was going crazy! As I said, most of the transfers (with a few exceptions) are certainly adequate, it's just that they are not as nice as the first four seasons. If they hadn't shown us how beautiful the show could look on the earlier releases, I might not be complaining. But now they are in essence "lowering the bar". I've gotten from a reliable source that Sony is planning to complete the series in this manner with no new transfers if they don't get many complaints about season 5. That means we could be seeing more terrible looking episodes like "Cousin Serena Pt. 1".
It's sad that Sony has given us no real extras of which to speak on any of these sets. At least you could always count on beautiful looking new transfers. Now they're not going to bother with that either.
Bewitched and Jeannie are the crown jewels of their classic television catalogue. At least the Jeannie transfers are already done!
Bewitched should have been given the royal treatment from start to finish.
I for one will be writing to them. I encourage others to as well.

 

[JohnMor]

The Jeannie transfers were always poor. And the problems with sound effects and music substitution were inexcusable. At least they never did that with BW.

Having finished the set last night, I found the majority of transfers very good. Some even better then prior seasons, as they didn't have as much edge enhancement. But the poor ones are certainly shocking compared to what came before.

I did love the Chevy logo end credits on "One Touch Of Midas," though. That was great. I thought it would be an old, beat-up network print, but it looked great.

I am definitely going to discuss the S5 transfers with my friend at Sony. Of course, he didn't take my recommendation on which of the 16 prospective covers to use (not that he was the final say!)

 

[Joe Lugoff]

If they made a documentary about the two Darrins, they could call it "Sargent York."

 

[YELLOW11]

Well, anybody heard anything about Season 6 yet?

 

[Brandy681]

Did anyone find out about the rest of the transfers on disc 3 & 4? I am still waiting on my pre-order from Amazon to come in the mail, grrr...

 

[Jeff Willis]

Joe, now that's CLASSIC

 

[Jdcrackers]

The episodes on Discs 3 & 4 are great with the exception of Cousin Serena Strikes Again Part 2.. There is another episode toward the end of the disc 4 I think where there are some shaking...but I was very pleased with my copy... I hope Season 6 comes out by the end of the year...

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Thanks, Jeff!

It occurred to me yesterday, when I was pondering if the 6th Season will see a drop-off in sales, due to Sargent replacing York.

Then I thought, "Hey, Sargent York!" I was amazed it took me 38 years to think of that.

For the younger folk who don't get it: Sergeant York was a hero of World War I, and his life was the basis of the 1941 movie "Sergeant York," for which Gary Cooper won his first Oscar. Now, laugh it up!

 

[JohnMor]

Brandy, there's really only 4 eps I thought had any problems:

"Cousin Serena Strikes Again, Pt. 1" is the worst, but with some adjustments to your TV's color and hue, it's still very watchable.

"Is It Magic Or Imagination?" appears to be mastered from an older video source, like "Cousin Serena," but not nearly as bad.

"It's So Nice To Have A Spouse Around The House" has some interlacing problems on one shot of Darrin and Serena in the car on their way to Moonthatch Inn. But it's on one shot only, which is weird.

"Samantha's Wedding Present" has problematical elements, but always had. It's not really a transfer problem. And it looks pretty good, but is the weakest image on Disc 1. Interestingly, it also has the Chevy logo on the end credits, but they whited-out the logo, making the cartoon Sam & Darrin appear to be sitting on a cloud.

Overall, the rest of the transfer are great. Less edge enhancement on some episodes than on prior sets. And none of them have been time-sped this time. However, one of the opening credit sequences was time-sped (I can't remember which one), but the episode itself wasn't. Like all the prior sets (and unlike Jeannie), all episodes have their original sound effects and music. No substitutions. Although, the music cue on the fade out at the end of Act 1 of "Cousin Serena Strikes Again, Pt. 2" has been moved up a little earlier. It now starts on the pet shop owners line instead of on Sam's reaction shot, and ends well before the fade out. Very strange, but totally inconsequential.

 

[fireflame]

Uk buyers don't wait for the slow uk release. Buy the french version. The only thing in french is the box.
The menues are in english, episodes start english.
The disks are the uk version released earlier and in a french box.

Search for Ma sorciere bien aimee on amazon.fr

They're in english!!!!!!!!!!!! (with a french box)

 

[Brandy681]

Thanks JohnMor and JD.. That was very informative and now at least now I know what to expect when I get my set.. I hate not knowing some problems until after I watch the sets and not knowing if it is just my sets with the problems or all that have been made like with I Dream Of Jeannie Season 3 and the distored Bootsie Nightengale episode, how minor they may be I like to know what to expect but I know that I will love the set either way! I noticed that my Bewitched set has finally shipped now and I can't wait to watch it..



Bring on Bewitched Season 6, don't make us wait another year for it!!!

 

[David*P]

This is a very interesting topic (re: production order) as this Fifth Season's broadcast and production order are so different from one another. I have listed here the episodes in their production order. The date they finished filming is listed after the title followed by the date it aired and the disc it's on in case you want to have your own "Production Order" marathon (which I plan on doing myself):

#142 Samantha Goes South For a Spell 6/27/68 10/3/68 (1)
#144 Darrin Gone! and Forgotten! 7/3/68 10/17/68 (1)
#152 Weep No More My Willow 7/11/68 12/19/68 (2)
#143 Samantha on the Keyboard 7/18/68 10/10/68 (1)
#145 It's So Nice to Have a Spouse Around the House 7/25/68 10/24/68 (1)
#141 Samantha's Wedding Present 8/2/68 9/26/68 (1)
#146 Mirror, Mirror on the Wall 8/8/68 11/7/68 (1)
#164 Battle of Burning Oak 8/15/68 3/13/69 (4)
#148 Is It Magic or Imagination? 8/22/68 11/21/68 (2)
#149 Samantha Fights City Hall 8/29/68 11/29/68 (2)
#147 Samantha's French Pastry 9/6/68 11/14/68 (1)
#154 Samantha's Supermaid 9/12/68 1/2/69 (2)
#170 Samantha & Darrin in Mexico City 9/19/68 4/24/69 (4)
#151 I Don't Want to be a Toad... 9/27/68 12/12/68 (2)
#150 Sam Loses Her Voice 10/4/68 12/5/68 (2)
#155 Cousin Serena Strikes Again (I) 10/10/68 1/9/69 (2)
#156 Cousin Serena Strikes Again (II) 10/15/68 1/16/69 (3)
#153 Instant Courtesy 10/22/68 12/26/68 (2)
#157 One Touch of Midas 11/14/68 1/23/69 (3)
#158 Samantha the Bard 11/21/68 1/30/69 (3)
#159 Samantha the Sculptress 11/27/68 2/6/69 (3)
#160 Mrs. Stephens, Where Are You? 12/11/68 2/13/69 (3) (No Dick York)
#161 Marriage, Witches' Style 1/20/69 2/20/69 (3) (No DY)
#162 Going Ape 1/27/69 2/27/69 (3) (No DY)
#163 Tabitha's Weekend 2/3/69 3/6/69 (3) (No DY)
#165 Samantha's Power Failure 2/10/69 3/20/69 (4) (No DY)
#166 Sam Twitches for UNICEF 2/19/69 3/27/69 (4) (No DY)
#167 Daddy Does His Thing 2/25/69 4/3/69 (4) (Dick York's last episode)
#168 Samantha's Good News 3/4/69 4/10/69 (4) (No DY)
#169 Samantha's Shopping Spree 3/11/69 4/17/69 (4) (No DY)

It's interesting to note that Dick Sargent's first filmed episode #185: "Samantha's Better Halves" finished filming a mere 20 days after the last fifth season episode.

So apparently DY was out of commission for approx. 2 months before he had to quit. It's bitter-sweet watching these episodes because you can see how sick he is.

And I agree, there should've been some sort of extra feature about why he left.

 

[fireflame]

Is it just me but if you had to take put the darrinless episodes it would be the best season.
Before watching the dvd i only had seen episode 1 (SWP) and i have been laughing at the episodes non- stop.

Usually i have to watch the episodes a second time to judge if the season's good but i have no need with this season.
Definately the best season by far.
My favourite seasons go like this
1. Season 5
2. Season 4
3. Season 1
4. Season 3
5. Season 2

 

[JohnMor]

David, thanks for posting the production order so conveniently! Much appreciated.

Ross, I totally agree. The show was hitting it's zenith with this season. Great eps, until DY became unavailable. The scripts without him were mostly pretty bad. There's a couple of good ones, but the quality really did drop. And I don't think it ever recovered. I think they found they could get away with lesser quality writing, and I don't think they ever put the same high quality time and energy into the scripts again. I've never really liked Ed Jurist's work during the Sargent years. He really did slide by on remaking earlier episodes. And not just the plots, which would have been okay, but recycling the same old jokes over and over.

But the DY Season 5 eps have always been among my favorites. I especially love his performance in "Mirror, Mirror On The Wall." He was terrific.

 

[Michael Rogers]

Wow, I was so niave to think that Dick York managed to film the last episode of the Season "Samantha and Darrin In Mexico" totally overlooking they could've just juggled around the ones they shot.

For me, Dick Sargent was Darrin #1, he was the first Darrin I saw when I watched Bewitched as a kid. It wasn't until later I saw the Dick York shows.

So, I can't wait for the Sargent episodes. The York episodes had better writing but Sargent had some good shows too.